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Seeing the name-drop of the Apple engineer on Gizmodo made my jaw drop. I couldn't believe that they would do such a thing. This no doubt casts a shadow on his

Seeing the name-drop of the Apple engineer on Gizmodo made my jaw drop. I couldn't believe that they would do such a thing. This no doubt casts a shadow on his career and life. It's a reckless attempt by what appears to be a subpar site to make itself somewhat legitimate. In this respect, they've failed miserably.

fairramone 16y ago
Not entirely true. I ask EVERYONE I interview what their biggest screw up has been career wise. If they don't have anything interesting to share, I don't want them working for me. This guy has a great story to tell and a real lesson learned.
TomOfTTB 16y ago
As much as I hate to defend Gawker I don't think you can blame them for the negative impact on his career. Say what you will he is guilty of what they claim he did. I would hope future employers would be willing to look past it and realize it was an innocent mistake but they have a right to know. In the end this incident is relevant to how much you trust him with prototypes in the future. Beyond that Gawker is a news source. It's their job to report on stories. So while it was dishonest to buy the stolen prototype this post is just reporting the story and I'm not sure it's out of the bounds of what a news organization should do.
- gr366 16y ago
  After this event, I'll bet you can trust him with future prototypes more than anyone else on this planet.
  - winterlightning 16y ago
    Yet no one ever would want to
    - rrhyne 16y ago
      Only a boss who is not worth working for would think this guy is incapable of learning this lesson after all that.
- anthonyb 16y ago
  Bullshit. There's a big difference between making a mistake, and having that mistake sprayed across the internet for all to see.
  - adora 16y ago
    I agree. They had their story. At worst but acceptable they could have said that it was an Apple employee. They completely went over the line by naming said employee. The question they should have asked themselves first was: "Does naming this person CONTRIBUTE to the story?" This is clear Journalism 101. The answer was and is clearly "no." The best line of defense for them is they have none. Sometimes I hate the internet and its cache. This is one of those times. Anyone can ruin anyone. The really good news is that it appears he has many people on his side.
  - TomOfTTB 16y ago
    Simply put once a news source starts omitting facts based on what they think is relevant that's the beginning of the end. News sources should report the facts in as complete a fashion as they are capable of doing. To do otherwise is to open the door to abuse. What's to stop a reporter from leaving a friend out of a story while reporting his coworkers were involved in some malfeasance? In that case the coworkers then look more guilty in comparison to their unmentioned friend who appears innocent because he wasn't reported in the story. That's just one example of how omitting facts can lead to dishonesty in reporting
    - mustpax 16y ago
      So news articles about sexual abuse should include the name, age and address of the victim? After all, who is to say it is not relevant to the story.
      - TomOfTTB 16y ago
        There are laws against reporting those names for that very reason. Because there is an ethical obligation by reporters to report all the facts and we as society have decided reporting those details isn't acceptable so we restrict them from reporting those details. Just as we do with the names of children. But the very existence of those laws proves the point I was making which is that reporters should be bound to report all details. Not the other way around
- mustpax 16y ago
  Guilty? As in, culpable? I am baffled by your willingness to burn someone at the stake for an honest mistake. Have you never misplaced anything valuable, left something behind by accident? Also, Gawker could have easily reported on this story and kept the engineer's name private. For example, read the NY Times article re-reporting the story, you won't see the engineer's name. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/technology/companies/20apple.html?hp http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/technology/companies/20app...
  - TomOfTTB 16y ago
    No. I've never misplaced something that could cost my company thousands of dollars and I'd like to believe I wouldn't be foolish enough to even bring something like that into a bar with me.
    - mustpax 16y ago
      I did not ask if you ever misplaced a top secret prototype device, and quite honestly I'm a little appalled that you feel you would be above making "foolish" mistakes. I asked if you ever misplaced anything valuable or anything that mattered to you. A wallet could be something valuable, or your keys. Most valuable, however, would be your sense of compassion, which right now you have clearly misplaced.
      - TomOfTTB 16y ago
        There's a difference between what is valuable to me and what is valuable to someone else (like my company). Yes I've misplaced things that are valuable to me but when I did I only hurt myself. I did not have an obligation to someone else that I did not fulfill. This engineer had an obligation to his company that he disregarded and his only excuse is "I was drunk and thoughtless" (which really isn't an excuse at all). Again, I'm not advocating he be fired because I think people should have the right to make mistakes but I find it appalling that the attitude in this comment thread has been that being drunk makes it ok to be derelict in your duties.
        16y ago
- BigZaphod 16y ago
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalism_ethics_and_standards http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalism_ethics_and_standards
  - TomOfTTB 16y ago
    Did you even read this before you quoted it?
    - anthonyb 16y ago
      Jeez, talk about the pot and the kettle. From a five second skim, the harm minimisation part seems pretty appropriate: Harm limitation principle ...This principle of limitation means that some weight needs to be given to the negative consequences of full disclosure, creating a practical and ethical dilemma. The Society of Professional Journalists' code of ethics offers the following advice, which is representative of the practical ideals of most professional journalists. Quoting directly:[17] * Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage. * Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief. * Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance. * Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone's privacy. * Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.
      - TomOfTTB 16y ago
        Show compassion does not mean omit facts. In fact, the article you quote says just the opposite. Beyond that this is not a tragedy. This is someone dealing with the consequences of their actions. Finally publishing photos off someone's social networking site is not invading their privacy. Again I point out that you didn't read the whole article you quoted. You zeroed in on the points that you think support your argument and ignored the rest. Maybe you should take more than five seconds and read the whole article
- hristov 16y ago
  I don't buy this. His name is not news. It is not important. If they just said "young Apple engineer" the news value of the whole thing would be exactly the same. If somebody that the public cares about loses an iPhone, the name is news. If it is just a random person, well the news value of the actual name is almost none. Actual responsible journalists often withhold names of ordinary people that get into news stories if disclosure would be embarrassing or damaging for those people. For example, the names of people that are accused of crimes are usually not disclosed by journalists until these people have been charged. The names of people that are killed or injured in a newsworthy event are also usually not disclosed. The names of victims of sensitive crimes like rape or sexual harassment are usually not disclosed. Of course Apple know he is the one who lost it, but now every future potential employer will also know. And again there was no reason at all for his name to have been made public.
- ZachPruckowski 16y ago
  Showing the guy's name, photo, and facebook page is gratuitous and wrong. Dude's already having the worst week of his life, and now they're splaying "this guy was the idiot who lost an iPhone prototype" all over the web? I buy that celebrities should get that treatment because they signed up for it going in[1], but this is just some average guy in a normal profession who was just trying to keep his head down. [1] - unless your film or music career literally pre-dates Charlie Chaplin, you knew what you were getting into.
- rrhyne 16y ago
  Man, how often is this guy going to hear: So you're the guy who lost the iPhone? That's going to get old.
- eventhough 16y ago
  I am voting you back up. I believe your opinion is sound and deserves to be recognized.
Confusion 16y ago
This no doubt casts a shadow on his career and life. I think you're overestimating the impact this has. People generally don't remember a name in an article they read at some website some time ago. Secondly, the number of people actually reading this is quite small. For instance, suppose someone lost a Nokia prototype in the same way and the engineer later applied to Apple. How large is the chance that the responsible guy at Apple HR would have heard the story and remembered the name?
- boredguy8 16y ago
  Where have you applied lately, that doesn't Google your name?
  - stretchwithme 16y ago
    And if you do it enough times, you realize everybody's got something to be unproud of. "Forgot my cellphone" has got be way down on the list of engineering failures.
    - protomyth 16y ago
      Not for a high tech company on the cutting edge who would test their machines in public. If he worked for someone else and was now applying at Apple, would he be hired?
- reitzensteinm 16y ago
  Sorry, but you're completely wrong about this. Anyone searching his name for the next 50 years will find this amongst the top 10 unless he ends up with the web presence of someone like Leo Laporte or Joel Spolsky (or someone with the same name does). The question is not whether hiring managers will find out about this - they will - it's whether they'll care.
  - confuzatron 16y ago
    All the chap did was accidentally leave his phone in a bar. Presumably he had it out for dog-fooding style testing. Gray Whoever (I've forgotten already) is hardly a name that will live in infamy. Unless the next time we see him is in a grainy beheading video featuring Steve Jobs wielding a large machete. All this 'OMG STOLEN' drama is totally over the top - I think some people are just looking for an angle at which to get outraged at a newsworthy product leak.
flatline 16y ago
> This no doubt casts a shadow on his career and life. It's no doubt going to suck for him until this blows over, but it will blow over, and I doubt that his career and life will suffer too much in the long run if he just rides it out. Any rational person looking at this will think it an honest mistake that they could easily have made, as Gizmodo points out tirelessly. Apple would be crazy to fire him.
jonknee 16y ago
It may have saved his job since it sounds like it really was an honest mistake and now if he's fired everyone will be on his side. There's no way Steve can fire him without looking like a heartless bastard. Google would hire him in a second and get a huge PR win.

fairramone 16y ago

Not entirely true. I ask EVERYONE I interview what their biggest screw up has been career wise. If they don't have anything interesting to share, I don't want them working for me. This guy has a great story to tell and a real lesson learned.

TomOfTTB 16y ago

As much as I hate to defend Gawker I don't think you can blame them for the negative impact on his career. Say what you will he is guilty of what they claim he did. I would hope future employers would be willing to look past it and realize it was an innocent mistake but they have a right to know. In the end this incident is relevant to how much you trust him with prototypes in the future. Beyond that Gawker is a news source. It's their job to report on stories. So while it was dishonest to buy the stolen prototype this post is just reporting the story and I'm not sure it's out of the bounds of what a news organization should do.

gr366 16y ago
After this event, I'll bet you can trust him with future prototypes more than anyone else on this planet.
- winterlightning 16y ago
  Yet no one ever would want to
  - rrhyne 16y ago
    Only a boss who is not worth working for would think this guy is incapable of learning this lesson after all that.
anthonyb 16y ago
Bullshit. There's a big difference between making a mistake, and having that mistake sprayed across the internet for all to see.
- adora 16y ago
  I agree. They had their story. At worst but acceptable they could have said that it was an Apple employee. They completely went over the line by naming said employee. The question they should have asked themselves first was: "Does naming this person CONTRIBUTE to the story?" This is clear Journalism 101. The answer was and is clearly "no." The best line of defense for them is they have none. Sometimes I hate the internet and its cache. This is one of those times. Anyone can ruin anyone. The really good news is that it appears he has many people on his side.
- TomOfTTB 16y ago
  Simply put once a news source starts omitting facts based on what they think is relevant that's the beginning of the end. News sources should report the facts in as complete a fashion as they are capable of doing. To do otherwise is to open the door to abuse. What's to stop a reporter from leaving a friend out of a story while reporting his coworkers were involved in some malfeasance? In that case the coworkers then look more guilty in comparison to their unmentioned friend who appears innocent because he wasn't reported in the story. That's just one example of how omitting facts can lead to dishonesty in reporting
  - mustpax 16y ago
    So news articles about sexual abuse should include the name, age and address of the victim? After all, who is to say it is not relevant to the story.
    - TomOfTTB 16y ago
      There are laws against reporting those names for that very reason. Because there is an ethical obligation by reporters to report all the facts and we as society have decided reporting those details isn't acceptable so we restrict them from reporting those details. Just as we do with the names of children. But the very existence of those laws proves the point I was making which is that reporters should be bound to report all details. Not the other way around
mustpax 16y ago
Guilty? As in, culpable? I am baffled by your willingness to burn someone at the stake for an honest mistake. Have you never misplaced anything valuable, left something behind by accident? Also, Gawker could have easily reported on this story and kept the engineer's name private. For example, read the NY Times article re-reporting the story, you won't see the engineer's name. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/technology/companies/20apple.html?hp http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/technology/companies/20app...
- TomOfTTB 16y ago
  No. I've never misplaced something that could cost my company thousands of dollars and I'd like to believe I wouldn't be foolish enough to even bring something like that into a bar with me.
  - mustpax 16y ago
    I did not ask if you ever misplaced a top secret prototype device, and quite honestly I'm a little appalled that you feel you would be above making "foolish" mistakes. I asked if you ever misplaced anything valuable or anything that mattered to you. A wallet could be something valuable, or your keys. Most valuable, however, would be your sense of compassion, which right now you have clearly misplaced.
    - TomOfTTB 16y ago
      There's a difference between what is valuable to me and what is valuable to someone else (like my company). Yes I've misplaced things that are valuable to me but when I did I only hurt myself. I did not have an obligation to someone else that I did not fulfill. This engineer had an obligation to his company that he disregarded and his only excuse is "I was drunk and thoughtless" (which really isn't an excuse at all). Again, I'm not advocating he be fired because I think people should have the right to make mistakes but I find it appalling that the attitude in this comment thread has been that being drunk makes it ok to be derelict in your duties.
      - 16y ago
BigZaphod 16y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalism_ethics_and_standards http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journalism_ethics_and_standards
- TomOfTTB 16y ago
  Did you even read this before you quoted it?
  - anthonyb 16y ago
    Jeez, talk about the pot and the kettle. From a five second skim, the harm minimisation part seems pretty appropriate: Harm limitation principle ...This principle of limitation means that some weight needs to be given to the negative consequences of full disclosure, creating a practical and ethical dilemma. The Society of Professional Journalists' code of ethics offers the following advice, which is representative of the practical ideals of most professional journalists. Quoting directly:[17] * Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage. * Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief. * Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance. * Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone's privacy. * Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.
    - TomOfTTB 16y ago
      Show compassion does not mean omit facts. In fact, the article you quote says just the opposite. Beyond that this is not a tragedy. This is someone dealing with the consequences of their actions. Finally publishing photos off someone's social networking site is not invading their privacy. Again I point out that you didn't read the whole article you quoted. You zeroed in on the points that you think support your argument and ignored the rest. Maybe you should take more than five seconds and read the whole article
hristov 16y ago
I don't buy this. His name is not news. It is not important. If they just said "young Apple engineer" the news value of the whole thing would be exactly the same. If somebody that the public cares about loses an iPhone, the name is news. If it is just a random person, well the news value of the actual name is almost none. Actual responsible journalists often withhold names of ordinary people that get into news stories if disclosure would be embarrassing or damaging for those people. For example, the names of people that are accused of crimes are usually not disclosed by journalists until these people have been charged. The names of people that are killed or injured in a newsworthy event are also usually not disclosed. The names of victims of sensitive crimes like rape or sexual harassment are usually not disclosed. Of course Apple know he is the one who lost it, but now every future potential employer will also know. And again there was no reason at all for his name to have been made public.
ZachPruckowski 16y ago
Showing the guy's name, photo, and facebook page is gratuitous and wrong. Dude's already having the worst week of his life, and now they're splaying "this guy was the idiot who lost an iPhone prototype" all over the web? I buy that celebrities should get that treatment because they signed up for it going in[1], but this is just some average guy in a normal profession who was just trying to keep his head down. [1] - unless your film or music career literally pre-dates Charlie Chaplin, you knew what you were getting into.
rrhyne 16y ago
Man, how often is this guy going to hear: So you're the guy who lost the iPhone? That's going to get old.
eventhough 16y ago
I am voting you back up. I believe your opinion is sound and deserves to be recognized.

Confusion 16y ago

This no doubt casts a shadow on his career and life. I think you're overestimating the impact this has. People generally don't remember a name in an article they read at some website some time ago. Secondly, the number of people actually reading this is quite small. For instance, suppose someone lost a Nokia prototype in the same way and the engineer later applied to Apple. How large is the chance that the responsible guy at Apple HR would have heard the story and remembered the name?

boredguy8 16y ago
Where have you applied lately, that doesn't Google your name?
- stretchwithme 16y ago
  And if you do it enough times, you realize everybody's got something to be unproud of. "Forgot my cellphone" has got be way down on the list of engineering failures.
  - protomyth 16y ago
    Not for a high tech company on the cutting edge who would test their machines in public. If he worked for someone else and was now applying at Apple, would he be hired?
reitzensteinm 16y ago
Sorry, but you're completely wrong about this. Anyone searching his name for the next 50 years will find this amongst the top 10 unless he ends up with the web presence of someone like Leo Laporte or Joel Spolsky (or someone with the same name does). The question is not whether hiring managers will find out about this - they will - it's whether they'll care.
- confuzatron 16y ago
  All the chap did was accidentally leave his phone in a bar. Presumably he had it out for dog-fooding style testing. Gray Whoever (I've forgotten already) is hardly a name that will live in infamy. Unless the next time we see him is in a grainy beheading video featuring Steve Jobs wielding a large machete. All this 'OMG STOLEN' drama is totally over the top - I think some people are just looking for an angle at which to get outraged at a newsworthy product leak.

flatline 16y ago

> This no doubt casts a shadow on his career and life. It's no doubt going to suck for him until this blows over, but it will blow over, and I doubt that his career and life will suffer too much in the long run if he just rides it out. Any rational person looking at this will think it an honest mistake that they could easily have made, as Gizmodo points out tirelessly. Apple would be crazy to fire him.

jonknee 16y ago

It may have saved his job since it sounds like it really was an honest mistake and now if he's fired everyone will be on his side. There's no way Steve can fire him without looking like a heartless bastard. Google would hire him in a second and get a huge PR win.